Hieroconfessor Paul, Bishop Of Starobela

Hieroconfessor Paul, in the world Paul Fyodorovich Kratirov, was born in 1871
in the village of Pokrovskoye, Totemsky uyezd, Vologda province, theson of Bishop
John of Saratov. After finishing his studies at the Vologda theological seminary,
he entered the Kazan Theological Academy, from which he graduated in 1896 with
the degree of candidate of theology. He was then appointed teacher in the Kharkov
theological seminary. In 1921 he was consecrated bishop of Starobela, a vicariate
of the Kharkov diocese. In May, 1922 he was living in Kharkov without the right
to leave the city. In the

summer he was arrested and sentenced to three years' exile beyond the bounds
of Kharkov diocese. From 1923 he was given the title of bishop of Yalta, a
vicariate of the Tauris diocese. In 1925 he signed the act accepting Metropolitan
Peter as patriarchal locum tenens, signing himself as bishopof Starobela.

Bishop Paul refused to recognize Metropolitan Sergius even before his
notorious declaration of 1927, considering him to be a usurper of higher
ecclesiastical power, which from 1926 should "by right" have belonged to
Metropolitan Agathangelus. For this he was banned from serving by Metropolitan
Michael (Yermakov), the Exarch of the Ukraine. When the declaration appeared, he
fiercely criticized it; at the end of 1927 he sent a letter to Metropolitan
Agathangelus, and was very satisfied by the answer, since the metropolitan called
Sergius "a usurper of ecclesiastical power". In April, 1928 Bishop Paul wrote to
Sergius officially declaring his separation from him. In the same month he was
banned by Sergius' synod.

In February and May, 1928, he wrote two large anti-sergianist epistles. He
wrote: "Metropolitan Sergiuss, not personally of himself, but in the name of the
whole Orthodox Catholic Church, has worshipped the man-god, who speaks proudly
and blasphemously Concerning the modernized church or concerning Sergian
'Orthodoxy', I, a sinner, believe that, as regards such church activists, we must
call them not only heretics and schismatics, but as those who have departed from
God. Metropolitan Sergius brings into the church service a heresy unheard of in
the history of the Church, the heresy of modernized departure from God, - of
which the natural consequence has been confusion and schism in the Church. Can
one, after this, affirm that the declaration and activity of Metropolitan Sergius
concerns only the external life of the Church, and do not touch in any way the
essence of the Church's Orthodoxy? In no way can this be said. Metropolitan
Sergius, by his self-wise and evil-worshipping declaration and the anti-Church
work which followed it, has created a new renovationist schism or Sergian
renovation, which while

preserving for the 'little ones' a fiction of Orthodoxy and canonicity is

even more criminal than the first two renovationisms of 1922 and 1925. And so
Metropolitan Sergius has put under his feet not only the external, but the very
inner essence of the Orthodoxy of the Church, since his 'hosanna' to

Christ and Antichrist, which is now being performed in Christian churches,
touches the very essence of Christian Faith and presents by itself clear
apostasy, the falling away from the Faith, and the departure from God... Church
activists who share the error of Metropolitan Sergius have already

partly become aware that they are all sitting in the renovationist bog

"In the given church-historical situation every 'legal' Church inevitably
becomes the whore of Babylonian apostasy from God. I cannot help being shocked
and pained at the sight of the crimsonly adulterous Church,

because I myself, being adulterous and a great sinner, have great need ofthe
Church that makes us chaste - the Virgin wearing the white clothes of chastity
and the completely pure, immaculate Bride of Christ, who can save me, the great
sinner Since the sergianist church has put on the crimson garments of the whore,
through this she has become guilty and criminal in everything."

Bishop Paul is probably the author of a "first letter of a bishop" dated April
3/16, 1928 and addressed to an unknown sergianist bishop. The author says that it
is not necessary to fear divisions in the Church, and on the

contrary welcomes protests against "the terrible work of Metropolitan
Sergius". "The Church of Christ is nothing other than the Kingdom of God,and it
is inside us, in the words of the Saviour. Can this Kingdom of God that is inside
us be in need of this whole abominable system which Metropolitan Sergius admits
in his relations with those outside? Is it possible, for the sake of preserving
ecclesiastical-economic property (churches, buildings,

church vessels) and a chancellery and what goes with it, to betray Christand
the Kingdom of God? The sergianist church, like the renovationist, is now raging,
lording it, banning and exiling, and through this it shows itselfto be a
caesaropapist organization in the most disgusting sense of the word.And for that
reason I am going into the desert, in the hope that at the given time only the
desert, down-trodden Church can show that true way to eternal salvation along
which the Christian must go The legalization of the Church of Christ or the
Kingdom of God in our conditions is equivalent to talk about a round rectangle or
dark light or hot ice, etc. From all this it is evident that there is no way I
can get out of the desert for the time being. Indeed, I am hastening thither, so
as to hide there, until the wrath of God passes away. I sorrow only over the fact
that amidst the archpastors of the Russian Church quite a fewer practical
followers of Sergius' foul verbal adultery have been found. Forgive and pray for
me, and repent, while it is not too late. Later you will not be able to jump out,
you yourself know why."

In June, 1928 Bishop Paul tried to establish links with Archbishop Demetrius
of Gdov. Vladyka Demetrius received him into communion and then suggested that he
look after the True Orthodox communities in his vicinity. >From this time a
lively correspondence began between the two hierarchs. For example, in the summer
of 1928 Bishop Paul in one of his letters asked for explanations and instructions
with regard to the following questions: howto regard the bans placed by
Metropolitan Sergius; were there plans to form a new church administration and
legalize it with the civil authorities? In the letter it was also emphasized:
"Does not our pastoral service oblige us of the necessity of hindering the
present authorities at every step in their work? Can we approve of the atheist
education in contemporary schools? Is class warfare admissible, and the
persecution of one class by another? Is it not more worthy of our lofty service
to witness directly and openly to the authorities that our paths go in different
directions, and that we can speak only about our desire to be loyal, but we
cannot witness to our loyalty in our works? Can we approve of entry into the
communist party?"

From Leningrad there came to Bishop Paul with epistles Igumen Claudius
(Savinsky), Nun Antonia of the Razdobarovsky monastery and the son of the

superior of the cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ (the
Saviour-on-the-blood), the engineer Elia Veryuzhsky, who worked in Kharkov in
1929-30. Besides this, Bishop Paul asked Vladyka Demetrius for holy chrism and
antimins, and sent him several times representatives of his flock for

ordination - for example, in the spring of 1929 he sent Hierodeacons Agapetus
and Sabbas.

From the summer of 1928 Bishop Paul began his activity as a ruling hierarch of
the True Orthodox Church. It was completely legal. Vladyka was summoned to the
OGPU and asked about his relationship to the declaration of Metropolitan Sergius,
and, in spite of his negative reply, they allowed him to serve in churches which
were united with him. The point was that the authorities up to a certain point
tried to encourage, or at any rate not hinder, schisms and divisions that
weakened the Russian Church.

But at the time that Bishop Paul was "legalized", Bishop Alexis (Buj) was
already acting as exarch of the True Orthodox Church in the Ukraine. From March
18, 1928 he was looking after a group of parishes in Kharkov, Poltava, Kupyank,
Isyum and Sumsk districts, which had been handed over to him by Bishop Barlaam of
Maikop. Bishop Alexis was cautious in relation to Bishop Paul because the latter
had left Metropolitan Sergius and had been banned

from serving long before the appearance of the True Orthodox Church. Vladyka
Demetrius tried to regulate relations between them. It is characteristic that in
September, 11928 Bishop Demetrius, in a conversation with the "Buyevtsy"
representative, the priest Stepanov, categorically rejected the rumours that
Bishop Paul was not Orthodox, and declared that he was "really Orthodox and a
true" Josephite. Bishop Demetrius sent Bishop Alexis a letter advising him to
hand over his parishes in Kharkov diocese to the new Josephite hierarch. Bishop
Alexis agreed in principle, but on condition that the desires of the parishes
themselves were taken into account (as a result of which only one parish, in
Krasny Liman, went over). He sent three notes to Bishop Paul, and in January,
1929 he sent him a telegram asking him to come immediately to

Yeletz to meet and resolve certain "pressing" questions. Bishop Paul did not
like the masterful tone of these letters; he had only just learned that Bishop
Alexis was exarch, and he refused to go to Yeletz, insisting on representatives
of the Voronezh diocese going to Kharkov. These fraught relations at times
influenced the position of the "Buyevtsy" in the Ukraine, in particular those in
Izyum district who were led by the dean, Protopriest Gregory Popov. And so, when
the superior of the "Pavlovite" church in the

village of Petrovsky, Priest John Lisitsky, came for a feast to the village of
Karpovka, they did not allow him to serve in the local "Buyevtsy" church.

In the summer of 1928 some 20 sergianist parishes joined Bishop Paul. The
first of these was the parish of the church in the town of Dergachi, then the
cathedral in Zolochev, the churches in Balakley, four villages in Bogodukhovsky
region, two villages in Akhtyrsky region (Sumsk diocese), etc. Also, four village
parishes in Ekaterinoslav (Dnepropetrovsk) diocese recognized him as their
bishop. He demanded from all these communities a lawfully accepted decree
concerning their union with him.

Such activity finally alarmed the OGPU. The more so when it became known that
one of the Starobela deans, Protopriest Antony Popov wanted to join him with all
the parishes of his area. At the end of July and beginning of August Bishop Paul
was serving in churches in Izyum district, but after a complaint from the
sergianist Bishop Constantine, he was summoned to the local department of the
OGPU and arrested for a short time. Then the Kharkov OGPU demanded that he cease
commemorating the name of the patriarchal locum tenens, Metropolitan Peter. When
he refused to do this, he was banned from travelling and receiving any more
parishes. Finally Bishop Paul submitted, and, in a conversation with Protopriest
Anthony, said that he would receive no more parishes. Fr. Anthony was now in a
dangerous position, since he did not want to go to Bishop Alexis, while
Metropolitan Agathangelus had again entered (temporarily) into communion with
Metropolitan Sergius. Soon he was arrested and exiled to Biisk. And there were
other similar repressions. Thus Protopriest Petropavlov from Ekaterinoslav
diocese, after declaring to the sergianist Bishop Augustine (Verbitsky) that he
was leaving him for Bishop Paul, was deprived of his church and found himself in
prison.

At the end of September, 1928 Bishop Paul was again summoned to the OGPU and
allowed to travel, but only with special permission. But in March, 1929 there
followed a final ban. Bishop Paul stopped travelling to other cities to serve,
although he continued to receive communities under his omophorion,and not only in
Kharkov or Sumsk dioceses. Thus in 1930 there came over to him some Josephite
parishes in Kiev, some former sergianist communities in Ananyev in Odessa
diocese, Glukhov in Chernigov diocese, in Kursk, in Zasosnaya, Ostrogozhsky area,
and the village of Nyeskuchny in Lipetsk area. In January, 1931 a community from
the village of Melekino, Mantushky region, Marioupol area also joined him. After
the arrest of Archbishop Demetrius (Lyubimov) Bishop Paul kept in contact with
Bishop Sergius (Druzhinin) of

Narva. He wrote to him, and sent several people to Leningrad for
ordination.

Bishop Paul's relationships with other Kharkov Josephites were varied. Since
1925 there lived in the city four exiled archimandrites from Kiev, of whom two
recognized the declaration of Metropolitan Sergius and were allowed to return to
Kiev, while the other two - the fomer superior of the Kiev-Caves Lavra
Archimandrite Clement (Zheretienko) and his deputy Archimandrite Macarius
(Velichko) - remained in Kharkov. Together with Igumen Eustratius they wrote to
Metropolitan Sergius telling him of their departure from him, and were banned
from serving. From the beginning of 1928 they were under Bishop Demetrius
(Lyubimov), but in the autumn of that year, through the mediation of Igumen
Claudius (Savinsky), they joined Bishop Paul. Their example was followed by a
series of parishes in Kharkov diocese, which were served by exiled Kievan
hieromonks in the villages of Gavrilovka, Gnilovka, etc.

In 1928, according to one (dubious) source, Vladyka Paul signed the decisions
of the so-called "Nomadic Council" of the Catacomb Church through Bishop
Barsonuphius.

Bishop Paul was an energetic man of average height with hazel hair. He had a
unique gift of giving outstanding sermons, which moved people to tears.

On January 16, 1931 he was arrested as leader of the Kharkov branch of the
True Orthodox Church and on January 2, 1932 was sentenced to ten years in the
camps. At 11.15 on January 5, 1932 he died in the hospital of Kharkov prison from
sarcoma of the lymph glands.